For veteran mail carrier Wayne, right now it’s about the kids.
The picket line outside the Canada Post office in downtown St. Albert is among those that are voluntarily accepting letters to Santa. Canada Post workers have been on strike since Nov. 15 with no end in sight, which impacts mail and package delivery across the country, including letters to the big red guy.
“It's the kids that are missing out, and they shouldn't be missing out,” the 31-year veteran said Wednesday, Dec. 11. “We're just trying to keep up the spirit of Christmas.
“They deserve Christmas.”
Letters to Santa can be dropped off at the picket line at the post office on St. Michael Street. They must include a phone number so the members of CUPW Local 730 volunteering their own time can make contact with the family and arrange for Santa’s response to be picked up.
The striking members will not cross the virtual picket line that exists around every Canada Post mailbox to deliver them.
Once contact is verified, volunteers craft a response from Santa to be retrieved by mom or dad or whoever.
“It's just like the seniors’ cheques, the social cheques, we're not the Grinch that’s trying to ruin Christmas,” Wayne said. “We actually go out and deliver the cheques. And as far as the kids with the Santa letters, they deserve it, too.”
Wayne said the union is fighting for respect, and better working conditions.
It’s unfortunate (that) it's this time of year that the post office doesn't want to come to the table to negotiate,” he said. “The Union's trying to negotiate. That's going to take two sides to get things finished.”
St. Albert’s UPS Store, in the Inglewood mall at Bellerose Drive and St. Albert Trail, is also accepting letters to Santa (until Dec. 21).
“Every kid is getting a response,” owner Jodie McFadzen said Dec. 11.
They’re still handling all sorts of other deliverables, too, for the record, but here’s the key: Ship your packages from the store, not from home.
The UPS Store, which is a separate, franchisee-owned company from the courier UPS, can and will ship your package anywhere across Canada, the United States or the rest of the world.
McFadzen said the logjam is in home pick-ups. Folks who think they are doing the company a favour by printing their own labels at home and waiting for a truck to collect their mail in fact are not.
Because retailers are prioritized for pick-ups, and deliveries must be made first, there just isn’t any time at the end of the day for drivers to get around to individual residences for pick-up.
The only way to guarantee a package goes out is to bring it to the store in person. That supports a local business and ensures the package will go out on either the 5 p.m. or the 6:30 p.m. outbound truck. Customers are presented delivery and cost options from UPS and DHL. All packages shipped from the store are tracked to guarantee timely delivery, according to McFadzen.
“I want us to type out that label for them,” she said. “I'm still thankful for whatever happens at our location, but the only guarantee is to have it done through our store because there is not enough drivers with them being bombarded with all the packages with everything that's going on.”
The entrepreneur has confirmed that after seven years in her location, the 2024 holiday rush will set a record.
"Yeah, we are busy in a normal year," she said. "This is, like, crazy."
Bad timing
The timing of the postal strike couldn’t be worse, according to Rosanna Fischer, outgoing chair of the St. Albert and District Chamber of Commerce.
“For many small businesses, the Christmas period is crucial to their annual revenue,” she wrote in an email Wednesday. “Delays in receiving stock, fulfilling orders, or sending invoices and holiday promotions could have a severe impact on both cash flow and customer satisfaction.”
Fischer urged both sides to “prioritize a swift solution,” as alternatives to Canada Post are often more expensive, or don’t have the same reach. Business owners should proactively touch base with customers about delays and what alternatives may work for them.
“We are committed to supporting local businesses through this challenging period,” she wrote. “We hope that both parties can reach a fair and equitable agreement soon, allowing businesses to focus on what matters most during the holidays: serving their customers and driving economic activity.”
Spirits still high on the line
According to Local 730 president James Ball, spirits are still high among his 2,750 members, who work in Edmonton and 64 affiliate Canada Post offices in smaller communities from Jasper to the Saskatchewan border.
Speaking Dec. 11, he had just come from a pancake breakfast held at a Canada Post plant in Edmonton.
Canada Post argues that the latest offer from the union, is a step backwards.
“We don’t want to provide false hope to impacted employees, small businesses, charities and northern communities that were hoping for a speedy resolution,” a statement posted to Canada Post’s website Dec. 9 reads. “In the last few weeks, Canada Post has made several important moves to close the gap and reach negotiated agreements, but the union has reverted to their previous positions or increased their demands.”
In a Dec. 11 update, Canada Post said the “unaffordable and unsustainable” offer would cost more than $3 billion over four years “at a time when the postal service is already recording large financial losses.”
Ball balked at this.
“I think they want us to be legislated back to work,” he said, something that won’t fly in the minority Parliament in Ottawa.
For one, the Conservatives have painted themselves into a corner where they automatically oppose anything proposed by the Liberals or NDP. For another, there are differences between this labour dispute and those ended by the federal government on the rails, and in the ports, according to Ball.
Where those disputes were primarily about wage increases, Ball sees “massive issues” with Canada Post’s proposals related to weekend work.
He said there are already two methods to have work done on weekends, added to the collective agreement in 2018.
“We’re fighting about gig work,” he said. “There are no regulations federally and very few provincially that deal with gig work.
“Who wants an eight-hour work week? That’s crap.”
Ball said he hopes they won’t be out on the picket line on Christmas Day, but that there are members who don’t celebrate the holiday who have expressed interest in maintaining the line on the holidays.
“The reality is we wanted a contract six months ago,” he said.
Meanwhile, Matt Jones, Alberta minister of Jobs, Economy and Trade, said Dec. 11 his government is “deeply concerned” by the lack of progress between the parties, which the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) says has cost $2 billion, or $76 million a day.
“While our government fully respects the collective bargaining process, after considerable feedback from Alberta’s charities and small businesses, we have heard clearly that reliable postal services are essential to both Canada’s and Alberta’s economies,” Jones wrote in a statement emailed by his press secretary.
“The federal government must use every tool at its disposal and take immediate action to end this strike before it harms more Canadians and further damages the livelihoods of countless Albertans and Alberta’s economy.”
